Lionel Messi, Inter Miami face tough road test at FC Cincinnati on Wednesday
Inter Miami hits the road again for a Wednesday game against FC Cincinnati, hoping to inch closer to the top of the Eastern Conference with three games remaining before MLS takes a seven-week World Cup break.
Miami is coming off of a 4-2 road win over Toronto FC on Saturday, with goals by Rodrigo De Paul, Luis Suarez, Sergio Reguilon, and Lionel Messi, who also provided two assists.
The team aims to keep the goals coming against Cincinnati. The last time these two teams met was in the 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals, where Inter Miami eliminated FCC at TQL Stadium on the road to the MLS Cup title.
Miami won that match 4-0 with goals by Messi, Mateo Silvetti and a brace by Tadeo Allende, who went on to set an MLS Playoff record with nine goals during the run to the MLS Cup title. Allende will not be available on Wednesday, as he is dealing with knee inflammation that kept him off the game roster last weekend.
Left back Noah Allen is questionable, as he trained apart from the team on Tuesday with what a team spokesman called a minor injury. Ian Fray, who missed the Toronto game, was back at full practice and is expected to be ready for the game (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).
“After our loss to Orlando, our objective was to win the four games left before the World Cup break,” Reguilon said after training on Tuesday. “We got one, now comes Cincinnati. The group is very hungry and is highly motivated.”
Reguilon, the 29-year-old Spanish left back, is in a good mood this week after scoring his first Inter Miami goal shortly after coming in off the bench at Toronto. He was signed this season to replace retired Jordi Alba, and arrived with an impressive resume that included stops at Real Madrid and Tottenham.
But a leg injury in preseason and other knocks have kept him out of the lineup.
“I’m always happy to be on the field, especially when we win,” he said. “It was a disastrous start to the season for me, and tough mentally, because I got here so excited to prove myself and then to get injured in the preseason was very frustrating. But now, finally, it’s time to forget about the negative and see the positives, which is that I am healthy and playing football.”
Inter Miami enters the game tied for second in the East, with a conference-high 26 goals, and has been dominant on the road with a 6-1-1 record.
Cincinnati is unbeaten in six straight games (two wins, four ties) and is 5-1-1 at home. The team ranks second in the East with 24 goals, but has allowed 27 goals to Miami’s 21.
The Orange and Blue are coming off a 2-2 draw at Charlotte FC that featured goals from Designated Players Evander and Kevin Denkey. Evander, the Brazilian playmaker, scored a spectacular goal against Charlotte and had a hat track at Chicago the week before.
Denkey leads Cincinnati with seven goals. On the defensive side, a player to watch is Miles Robinson, the American center back who is back from injury and aiming for a spot on the U.S. World Cup roster.
Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan says his team should be up for the challenge of facing Messi and his high-profile teammates.
“I think they know what they’re up against,” Noonan said. “What you do is you try to just create a picture for Miami’s strengths and how to best manage those moments. Even when you have good ideas and a good game plan, things don’t always turn out the way you want in these moments. So, it’s trying to give the guys the right amount of confidence to know that they can perform well and make plays, but that it’s going to have to be a collaborative effort.”
Asked what he expects from Miami after its win at Toronto, Noonan said: “We’re anticipating their strongest group, and right now, it’s very strong. Looking at the Toronto game, it’s a lot of what we expect to see (from) one of the best teams in the league as far as when they have the ball, how they play under pressure, how they arrive into certain areas that get their most important players on the ball to have an impact.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 3:20 PM.